As I posted in a comment on that last post, somewhere around mid-January (January 18-ish), Warner Brothers Music had both videos yanked from Youtube and Corey’s account was suspended. Looks like Corey’s Youtube account was reinstated about 7 days ago ( judging by when the video comments resumed) and the Moosebutter version is available again. Corey’s original video, though, is gone (with it’s millions of views) but another copy of it is available elsewhere:

He uploaded a short video yesterday on the subject of the still AWOL video, Warner Brothers, and Youtube:

Yesterday, his story was the subject of a CNET News article, YouTube users caught in Warner Music spat, which offers some interesting background information on the situation. I’m extremely disappointed that the article gives the impression that the still-missing video is all Corey’s work, further confusing the already ignorant masses who think Corey performed the song. Continue reading →

(I believe that’s Weston in the top left, Chris in the top right, Tim in the bottom right, and Glen in the bottom left.)

And it’s a fresh new recording.

You heard me. Not them lipsynching to their original song, but actually singing LIVE for the video. Lots more fun than Corey’s, though Corey did a good job. I question the mentioning of Natalie Portman after “So you have a twin sister who Obi Wan was wise to hide” (she was Mom, not twin sister) but otherwise it was a cool update to the classic. Good job, guys.

Did I mention this was awesome? It’s only right that this video top Corey’s in view count — it’s only at 2,522 now so you’ve all got a lot of watching to do.

Like this:

I can imagine that seeing someone have huge success with a viral video using your music must be both pleasant and annoying.

Pleasant in that the popularity of the video gets your music out to people who might never have heard it before. O-Zone’s Dragostea Din Tei comes to mind — a lot fewer people ever heard of it before the Numa Numa guy came up with his Youtube video. (As an aside, I really find him annoying.)

Annoying in that it has to bite just a bit that someone else has more success with your music than perhaps you did.

If you’re smart (or lucky), you manage to create the most viral video yourself, like OK Go and their treadmill video for “Here it Goes Again“.

As a regular punter, I’m happy for viral videos because, without them I would never have heard some of my favourite songs.

I was looking at my Youtube updates today and decided to look at the featured videos on the Youtube home page. One of the videos today was Corey VIdal‘s video of him lipsynching in four-part harmony to comedy a cappella group Moosebutter‘s Star Wars song, a tribute to John Williams’ soundtrack work:

He does a pretty credible job of it. What’s funniest — and why the video works so well — is that his appearance fits many of the voices, and his lipsynching is really good. So it really looks like it’s all him.

Moosebutter’s page for the song includes the lyrics, radio-quality streaming audio of the song, and the option to purchase a copy of the song. You can also browse their other songs. I was going to buy a copy of this song but, you know, I like this enough that I think I’m going to just go for the whole enchilada and buy all of their stuff. The MP3s are DRM-free, which is a bonus. (Shh, don’t tell anyone that I’m actually paying for music. ;-))

(As an aside, how bizarre is it that anyone, let alone a 21-year-old from Ontario, can manage to ‘do Youtube “for a living”‘. I realize that a lot of work can go into making videos to post on Youtube but the idea that you can make a living doing it is just surreal.)